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Caltech

TAPIR Seminar

Friday, February 11, 2022
2:00pm to 3:00pm
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Online Event
Binary Evolution: a Multi-messenger, Multi-band Puzzle
Katelyn Breivik, Flatiron Research Fellow, Gravitational Wave Astronomy, CCA, Flatiron Institute,

To Join via Zoom

https://caltech.zoom.us/j/89695722750

Recent observations of binary black hole and binary neutron star mergers have ignited interest in the formation and evolution of compact-object binaries. One of the most pressing questions is determining the formation environments of these systems which couple strongly to their population characteristics. However, by the time a compact-object binary merges and produces the gravitational-wave signals observed by ground-based detectors, much of the evolutionary history of the system is washed away. By combining binary population synthesis simulations with gravitational-wave and electromagnetic observations, we can constrain uncertain processes that govern the evolution of binary stars from their birth through to compact object formation and merger. In this talk I will highlight recent work which explores ways to combine binary population simulations with current and future data from gravitational-wave and electromagnetic surveys to constrain the formation and evolution of binary stars and compact object binaries.

For more information, please contact JoAnn Boyd by phone at 626-395-4280 or by email at [email protected].